Field Observation Evidence Report #3

TC NAME: Ashley Guile
RICA DOMAIN: 1: Planning, Organizing, and Managing Reading Instruction
RICA COMPETENCY: 3A: Flexible Grouping, Individualized Instruction, and Whole-Class Instruction
GRADE LEVEL: 1st Grade

INSTRUCTION:
I observed Mrs. Burrows arranging reading rotation groups and selecting stations that the students would rotate through for the week.  She was planning which students should be paired together, and organizing the students into reading groups based on their reading level and reading abilities.  She said that she groups the students in homogeneous groups so that they can work on similar activities and reading comprehension books.  She mentioned that the groups are flexible and that if she notices students not working well together, or not making good choices while they are supposed to be reading or working on seat work during the reading rotations, that she will regroup them.  She uses the reading groups as a differentiation strategy to allow students to work on worksheets and read books that are appropriate for their reading level and ability.  She keeps the books constant to the same topic, but differentiates on the specific books so that they are able to be read by all students.  By grouping the students for reading rotation learning centers, she allows herself time to work with students in small groups, as well as individually, so that she can assess student learning and address any issues or learning confusions they are experiencing.  The students have different stations such as seat work, English in a Flash (on the computer), guided reading center (books on tape), the leap frog center, and the phonics center.  Students also work with her in small groups to read a story and create lecture notes and review the theme of the book.  Students rotate through all of the centers before the end of the language arts unit, and are able to pick from multiple books that are leveled with their reading ability.  It allows the students to focus on the material they are comfortable with and gradually move to the next level of difficulty.

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:
Students are paired in 2's and 3's and rotate within the classroom according to their reading group and station.  Mrs. Burrows posts the reading rotation schedule for the groups and reviews it before the students start to rotate.  The students use computers to work on their English skills using English in a Flash, read on Leap Frog learning center books, can follow along to a short story on tape, can read independently or in small groups at their desks, and can work on forming words in the phonics center.  She has a schedule of where the students rotate to, and what they need to complete while in the different learning centers.  When I am in the classroom, I walk around to the students reading independently and to those on the computers, and assist them with any questions or issues that arise.  Students know who their reading rotation partners are, and know that if they stop working or start playing instead of reading, that their reading partner will change.  By using this rotation strategy, students are able to select books that interest them and read more than one in the rotation time frame.

Field Observation Evidence Report #2

TC NAME: Ashley Guile
RICA DOMAIN: Comprehension - 5
RICA COMPETENCY: Comprehension: Instruction and Assessment-Before Children Read, While Children Read, After Children Read. -13
GRADE LEVEL: 1st

INSTRUCTION:

I observed Mrs. Burrows teaching a lesson on reading comprehension.  She showed the students the cover page of the story "Nan and Fan," and asked them to predict what the story was about.  By asking them to predict what would happen, she was setting a purpose for reading and follows the reciprocal teaching model of gradually releasing responsibility.  As she read the story, she would pause and ask the students what just happened in the story.  By asking the students to repeat the information back to her in their own words, she was having them paraphrase the story.  After she concluded the story, she asked them to summarize what happened in the story, and asked them what their favorite part of the story was.  Mrs Burrows then created lecture notes on a large piece of white paper on the board to help the students see and comprehend the sequence of the story, which acts as a visual/graphic representation of what was read.

Mrs. Burrows created 3 sections in the lecture notes: the setting, characters, and main idea.   She asked they students to describe what the setting was, who the characters in the story were, and what the main idea of the story was.  She then drew an image representation in each of the boxes and hung it on the board for students to reference when they take their A.R. Quizzes later in the week. By posting the lecture notes, she is assisting struggling readers and those with reading disabilities.  She said by posting the lecture notes and allowing students to reference them regularly, it reinforces the information and allows the students to recall the information in the story in a visual manner.

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:
I observed that the instructional setting contained multiple supports for teaching and learning of reading comprehension.  She has multiple visual images of lecture notes posted throughout the room, as well as a visual poster of how to make a prediction about a story.  She has multiple books that the students may reference or use to re read the stories prior to their AR Quizzes.

Field Observation Evidence Report 1

TC NAME: Ashley Guile

RICA DOMAIN:  2  - Word Analysis

RICA COMPETENCY: Phonics

Grade Level: First Grade

INSTRUCTION:

            I observed Mrs. Burrows teaching a lesson on phonics.  The teacher showed large images and letter cards of words that end with the “at” sound.  The pictures and letter cards served as a visual support for all of the students, including EL’s.  She sounded out the words for the students, then isolated the ending sounds so that the students could hear that the sounds were the same.  She also pointed to her mouth as she said the “at” ending sound to show them the movement their mouths should be making.  She modeled saying the “at” ending at the end of the words, and emphasized the ending sound of each picture to show the sound relations.  These techniques were used to show the students tactile support for all students in the classroom.
                Mrs. Burrows modeled blending the ending “at” sound with different onset phonemes such as /h/, /b/, /c/, and /ch/.  She then had the students sound out some of the words with her as she held up the different images and letter cards, having them emphasize the “at” ending.  By showing the images, and prompting them to sort the phoneme from the ending sound, she provided scaffolding for blending sounds. 
                She then passed out puzzles, picture cards, and letter images showing different onset phonemes such as /b/, /h/, /ch/, and /c/, as well as cards and images showing the “at” ending.  She then had students work together to blend the phonemes with the “at” ending to create different words and match the words with the corresponding picture images.  This activity provided peer interaction and practice.  She then asked one group from each table to show her their word and picture match, and show her how they were able to put the word together and find the matching image. 

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:

                I observed that the instructional setting contained multiple supports for teaching and learning the phonemes and “at” ending: large written “at” on poster, alphabet posters, images with blended words and their spellings, large written examples, onset cards, ending sound cards, image cards, and cards with the blended word written for reference.